Corporate VCs step up, FTX backs up BlockFi, and SoftBank Group International's new CEO is already leaving

Summer! (It's official.)

Microsoft plans to eliminate face analysis tools in a push for what it describes as "responsible AI," the New York Times reported earlier today. The corporate colossus will stop offering automated tools that predict a person’s gender, age and emotional state and will restrict the use of its facial recognition tool. Many industry watchers are hoping other big tech companies will follow suit. 

Yikes? SoftBank Group's Michel Combes is leaving his post as head of the overseas arm SoftBank Group International five months after taking on the role vacated by former SoftBank Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure. Bloomberg has more here.

Prosecutors today said former Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani “wasn’t a victim, he was the perpetrator of fraud” in the company’s downfall, while his attorney blasted the government’s case calling it inconsistent. The closing statements capped a three-month-long trial where the government alleged Balwani acted with his ex-girlfriend and business partner, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, in a multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud investors and patients. The jury is expected to begin deliberations as soon as this week. CNBC has the story here.

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Accel, the 39-year-old venture firm, just pulled a major power move. It announced, via a simple blog post, that it has just closed a new, global, late-stage fund with $4 billion in capital commitments.

The fund, which closed last week, would be notable in any market. It’s a lot of money. But at a moment when two of Accel’s fiercest rivals — SoftBank and Tiger Global Management — are low on capital, it must be a particularly sweet moment for the firm, which now employs around 100 investors (and 200 employees altogether) across offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, London, and Bangalore.

Indeed, assuming the market is undergoing a reset and not a major, years-long correction, Accel’s timing could hardly be better. The only question is whether it should have scaled back its ambitions as market conditions shifted this spring. (We reached out to Accel earlier today for comment but a spokesperson pointed us back to the firm’s blog post.)

It wouldn’t be the first time that Accel has given money back to its investors amid market turbulence. In 2001, Accel raised what was then its biggest fund ever — a $1.4 billion vehicle — only to reduce the fund size to $950 million in 2002 after the tech market — which first soured in the spring of 2000 — failed to bounce back and frustrated limited partners, or LPs, proceeded to make a stink.

LPs seem highly unlikely to push back this time around considering what happened next. Before cutting back that $1.4 billion fund, Accel proposed splitting it into two $700 million funds: one to invest as planned and a second, $700 fund to begin investing in 2004. The LPs who voted against that idea — and the majority of them did — are probably still kicking themselves.

One of them is Chris Douvos, an investor for Princeton’s endowment fund at the time. After the kerfuffle over the 2001 fund, he passed on Accel’s next fund, out of which Accel led Facebook’s $12.7 million Series A round in 2004. It became one of the best-performing venture funds of all time (ouch). Meanwhile, Douvos lost his access to Accel. (“Let’s just say I’m not on their speed dial,” he joked to us in 2016.)

More here.

LeadSquared, an eleven-year-old Bangalore startup whose mission is to help sales teams become more efficient via its CRM platform, raised a $153 million Series C round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal lead was WestBridge Capital; previous investor Gaja Capital also participated. The company has raised a total of $188.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Magic Eden, a one-year-old San Francisco that operates an NFT marketplace with a heavy emphasis on the Solana ecosystem, raised a $130 million Series B at a $1.6 billion valuation. Electric Capital and Greylock co-led the deal, with Lightspeed Venture Partners and previous investors Paradigm and Sequoia Capital also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $159.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Omio, a ten-year-old travel search and booking platform based in Berlin, raised an $80 million Series E. Investors in the round included Lazard Asset Management, Stack Capital Group, NEA, Temasek, and Goldman Sachs. The company has raised a total of $476 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Openly, a five-year-old Boston startup that says it offers home insurance products in 19 states through a network of over 17,000 independent insurance agents, raised a $75 million Series C. Participants in the round included Advance Venture Partners, Clocktower Ventures, Obvious Ventures, Gradient Ventures, PJC Ventures, Techstars, and Mtech. The company has raised a total of $137.7 million. Coverager has more here.

Personio, a seven-year-old HR startup out of Munich that's focused on the small and medium-size businesses of the world, has raised $200 million in extended Series E funding, the first tranche of which closed with $270 million in October. Greenoaks Capital Partners, which led the round originally, also led this newest investment, joined by unnamed investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Stashfin, a six-year-old New Delhi neobank targeting blue-collar workers and individuals aged between 23 to 38 who make less than $500 a month, raised a $70 million Series C round and $200 million in debt from Uncorrelated Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and Fasanara Capital, as well as previous investors Altara Ventures, Kravis Investment Partners, and Snow Leopard. The company has raised a total of $345 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Abacus Insights, a five-year-old Boston startup that standardizes data for its health insurance industry clients, raised a $28 million Series C led by MultiPlan Corporation; previous investors Blue Venture Fund, CRV, .406 Ventures, Horizon Healthcare Services, and Echo Health Ventures also participated. The company has raised a total of $81.6 million. More here.

Bardeen, a two-year-old startup based in San Francisco that makes a browser-based workflow automation tool that cannot see, store, or access a user's data, raised a $15.3 million Series A led by Insight Partners, while previous investors 468 Capital and FirstMark Capital also participated. The company has raised a total of $18.8 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Carbon Biosciences, a year-old, Boston startup that is using gene therapy to develop treatments for cystic fibrosis and other serious diseases, raised a $38 million Series A round. Agent Capital was the deal lead. FierceBiotech has more here.

CEIPAL, a seven-year-old startup based in Rochester, NY, that uses AI to help companies attract, acquire, and retain talent, raised $21 million ($16.5 million in equity and $4.5 million in debt) in a Series B round led by Camden Partners, with additional capital supplied by Topmark Partners, Evergreen Mountain Equity Partners, Mistral Venture Partners, and Resolve Growth Partners. The company has raised a total of $29.8 million. More here.

CloudNC, a seven-year-old startup based in London that is seeking to fully automate the manufacturing of everything from airplanes to personal electronics, raised a $45 million Series B at a $245 million valuation. The deal was led by Autodesk, with additional participation from Lockheed Martin, British Patient Capital, and previous investors Atomico, Episode 1 Ventures, and QVentures. The company has raised a total of $77.8 million. Bloomberg has more here.

Connected Energy, a twelve-year-old startup based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, that repurposes used electric vehicle batteries for use in commercial-scale stationary energy storage systems, raised an $18.4 million round. Participants in the deal included Volvo Group, Caterpillar, Hinduja Group, Mercuria, and OurCrowd. The company has raised a total of $31.5 million. The Economic Times has more here.

Fido, a nine-year-old startup based in Accra, Ghana, that extends credit to thousands of customers over mobile phones, raised a $30 million Series A led by Fortissimo Capital, with Yard Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $30.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Huspy, a two-year-old startup based in Dubai that aims to streamline the mortgage process in the Middle East and beyond, raised a $37 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India; Founders Fund, Fifth Wall, Chimera Capital, Breyer Capital, VentureFriends, COTU, BY Venture Partners, and Venture Souq also participated. TechCrunch has more here.

Jit, a one-year-old startup based in Tel Aviv that aims to help developers simplify security when deploying cloud apps, raised $38.5 million in seed funding led by Boldstart Ventures, with additional participation from Tiger Global Management. SecurityWeek has more here.

LogRocket, a six-year-old startup based in Boston that enables developers to recreate user-reported issues to understand why they might’ve occurred, raised a $25 million Series C. Battery Ventures and Delta-V Capital co-led the round. The company has raised a total of $55 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Playermaker, a six-year-old, London-based startup that makes a wearable performance tracker for athletes, has raised $40 million in funding led by Ventura Capital Group, with additional investment by MIG Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, and others. Calcalist has more here.

Rivet, a four-year-old startup based in Sandy, Ut., that has developed a healthcare billing platform for patients and providers, raised a $20.5 million Series B round led by Catalyst Investors, with additional participation from Ankona Capital, Menlo Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, and Lux Capital. The company has raised a total of $31.5 million. More here.

Wingcopter, a five-year-old startup based in Weiterstadt, Germany, that is developing a delivery drone, raised a $42 million Series A extension. The investment syndicate included German retail chain REWE Group, Itochu, Salvia, XAI, Futury Capital, and Xplorer Capital. The company has raised a total of $64 million. DroneDJ has more here.

Afropolitan, a nearly six-year-old, Bay Area-based community-as-a-service company for the African diaspora (it organizes travel and events, among other things), has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding from former a16z investor Balaji Srinivasan, Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund, and a long list of other individual investors and venture firms. TechCrunch has more here.

Amy, a three-year-old startup based in Tel Aviv that claims its AI-enabled platform can help enterprise reps build better customer connections and increase sales, raised a $6 million seed round. Next Coast Ventures and Lorne Abony co-led the deal. VentureBeat has more here.

Augmenta, a six-year-old Toronto startup that wants to help contractors and engineers design fully detailed, code-compliant, constructible building systems “in hours rather than weeks or months,” raised a $4.1 million SAFE led by Hazelview Ventures, with additional funds provided by Ferguson Ventures and Whiteshell Group. BetaKit has more here.

Axomove, a five-year-old French startup whose software-as-a-service allows doctors to help their patients with remote physical therapy (and to monitor their progress), raised a $1.7 million round led by Faraday Venture Partners, with Santélys and Groupe JLO also chipping in. EU-Startups has more here.

Healthtracka, a year-old, Lagos, Nigeria-based at-home lab testing platform, has raised $1.5 million in funding from Ingressive Capital and Hustle Fund among others. TechCrunch has more here.

Makelog, a two-year-old, Walnut, Ca.-based startup behind a new communication tool for product teams, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Basecamp Fund, Formulate Ventures, Bluewatch Ventures and several industry angels. TechCrunch has more here.

Neuron7.ai, a two-year-old startup based in San Jose, Ca., that says it leverages AI and natural language processing to enable companies to diagnose and resolve complex issues and make accurate service decisions at scale, raised a $10 million Series A round co-led by Battery Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. The company has now raised a total of $14.2 million. More here.

Nibble Health, a one-year-old New York startup that helps organizations offer zero-interest, zero-fee healthcare financing as an employee benefit through a Nibble Health payment card, raised an $8.5 million seed round co-led by Wing Venture Capital and Tiger Global Management, with A* Capital and Expa also chipping in. PYMNTS.com has more here.

Saysh, a two-year-old Los Angeles footwear brand founded by Olympian Allyson Felix and her brother, raised an $8 million Series A round led by IRIS and Athleta, with Redpoint Ventures and Springbank Collective also contributing. Footwear News has more here.

Sonrai Analytics, a four-year-old startup based in Belfast that is trying to develop bespoke applications and interfaces to enable health, biotech and pharma organizations to filter and transform datasets in real time, raised a £2 million seed round led by Forward Partners. Silicon Republic has more here.

Tingono, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that says it's using AI to reduce customer churn for tech companies, raised a $6.7 million seed round led by Foundation Capital, with additional capital from Pathbreaker Ventures, Xfund, and Flying Fish Partners. GeekWire has more here.

Vamstar, a three-year-old, Los Angeles- and London-based sourcing and procurement platform for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, has raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. Alpha Intelligence Capital and Dutch Founders Fund led the round, joined by earlier investors btov Partners and Antler. More here.

Wilco, a year-old, Tel Aviv startup that aims to help software developers up-skill their careers, raised a $7 million seed round led by Hetz Ventures; additional investors included Vertex Ventures and Flybridge Capital Partners. Forbes has more here.

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Matrix Partners India is raising $450 million for its fourth India fund, doubling down on the South Asian market where scores of investors including Sequoia, Lightspeed, SoftBank, Elevation, Accel, Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global have increased the pace of their investments in recent years. The outfit's last fund closed with $300 million in 2019. TechCrunch has more here.

The food giant Mondelez is buying Clif Bar for $3 billion. The Cadbury maker will also pay additional amounts to the sellers depending upon its earnings from Clif Bar, Mondelez said. The company said it will get the Clif, Luna and Clif Kid brands of bars in its portfolio through the acquisition, creating a $1 billion-plus global snack bar franchise for itself. CNN has more here.

Uniswap Labs, the company behind the Ethereum-based decentralized exchange Uniswap, is acquiring the NFT aggregation platform Genie. As Decrypt notes, "NFTs—unique blockchain tokens that signify ownership—can be purchased on a number of different marketplaces like OpenSea, LooksRare, or Coinbase NFT. But few offer users the ability to purchase multiple items in one transaction, and none offer aggregation tools that allow traders to see listings on rival marketplaces. Genie offers both." Looks like terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. More here.

Crypto lender BlockFi has secured a $250 million revolving credit line from FTX, a deal that comes as a broader market meltdown has forced other lenders to freeze withdrawals. (It's not an "exit" yet, but you can kind of see how things could evolve from here.) Protocol has more here.

Courtesy of Bloomberg: MSP Recovery was valued at almost $33 billion prior to going public last month, making the healthcare-litigation company the most expensive U.S. SPAC deal ever, at least on paper. The excitement didn’t last. MSP is now worth $4.3 billion and has warned its ability to continue as a going concern is in doubt. It's nearly as big a disaster as SoftBank-backed View, a smart-glass company whose SPAC merger and subsequent performance led Bloomberg to ask last month: Is This the SPAC Era's Worst Deal?

Amazon has named longtime executive Doug Herrington as its new boss of world-wide stores following the departure of Dave Clark, who led its warehousing and e-commerce operations and is leaving the company to join Flexport as CEO. (The WSJ has more here.) The move appears to have prompted other senior executives to leave, including two of the company's most senior Black executives. Business Insider has more here.

MindGeek, the internet company best known for operating Pornhub, said that CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo have resigned. The company said the transition has been in the works for months but as Variety notes, news of the execs' exits comes hot on the heels of an 8,000-word investigative piece into the company in the New Yorker. More here.

Joe Morrissey is the newest general partner at Andreessen Horowitz; he will be investing with David George and the rest of the firm's growth team. Morrissey was most recently was chief revenue officer of Segment, which was acquired by Twilio for $3.2 billion in 2020. More here.

Amazon just announced its first fully autonomous mobile warehouse robot.

Twitter is a step closer to approving $44 billion buyout deal with Elon Musk.

Corporate VCs have a reputation for backing startups in good times only, but they are stepping up funding for enterprise startups amid a broader slowdown in venture capital deals, investors say. The WSJ has more here.

How BTS became one of the most popular bands in history.

A paper house for Prada's latest. 

The first teaser for "Stranger Things Volume 2." [Squeal.]

What to expect from “George Michael: Freedom Uncut."

A waterfront home in Washington state's San Juan Islands.

The Tod's T-Bike. 

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